Personal Statement

I have always loved Art but didn’t like education – until this year where I have been doing an Access to HE course in Art and Design. Discovering in my 50s that I love learning is a surprise and a gift. After a turbulent and wayward adolescence, it wasn’t until I was 17 when I went to my first ever gallery and exhibition; Francis Bacon at the Tate, which blew my mind. I had no idea a painting could make you feel, and I felt thrilled. I couldn’t believe that a painting could be so brutal and tender. I felt inspired and amazed that anyone could learn to paint so beautifully and disturbingly in equal measures. Since then, I have always gone to as many exhibitions as I can and I have always wanted to learn more.

I have experience restoring and designing houses over the last 30 years. I have restored 27 houses, including Grade 1 listed buildings, working closely with Heritage experts and master craftsmen. I am curious and intensely interested in learning about things I like and will do many hours of research on the life of the property and what it has lived through. This helps me understand more about the house and the period it has lived through and helps me to build the whole picture so I can be sympathetic with the work. One particular Arts and Crafts house involved contacting and working with the V&A upon discovering original wallpaper painted by the William Morris Studios!

Building my house restoration business required me to find and manage the right people for particular projects and to manage the team and inevitable expectations and disappointments that come with a long, complex project. Doing this has shown me that I am able to cope with great pressure when needed and still keep focused on the creative goal.

The journey of taking my idea of redesigning Later Life Living from concept to a fully funded development of 50 apartments that incorporated groundbreaking design, gave me opportunity to develop my organisational, collaboration and leadership skills. As the project’s founder I was working as part of some of the teams involved and leading some of the other teams showed me that I have great persistence and commitment to innovation. As part of the desire to find new ideas, I conceived and created a hackathon which ran over a 48 hour period involving over 200 people working together to come up with designs and ideas to make old age as good as it can be. During this I found working intensely and with a variety of new people a powerful experience.

I have taken photographs for many years and worked with a photographer as an assistant. During this time I organised a charity exhibition for the Parkinson’s Disese Trust called “Movers & Shakers for Movers & Shakers” involving taking portraits of 25 people who were at the top of their game in the world of medicine, finance, law and business. This was shown at Hamilton’s gallery, London and was featured in the press and raised over £40k

On the access course I have been working on painting, print making, collage, drawing , animation, sculpture, photography and colour. I feel alive and energised learning and working on these practises and I’m truly hungry to learn more. I think getting older has made me realise ‘If not now, when?’ In the course I am applying to there is a wide variety of media and the opportunity to work alongside students from all stages of the degree in a great studio space which I find exciting at the thought of being in a committed, creative environment.

In my work, everything I have done has been influenced by the aesthetic and by art in some way and now I have started on this journey of learning, I am passionate and committed to continuing and I hope that I can do that by studying for a BA.